The eventful last days of the year 2015 have brought us one truly tragic piece of news, but also a brand-new release of deepin, an increasingly popular distribution developed in China and featuring the Deepin desktop environment. This is the project's first version based on Debian GNU/Linux (the "unstable" branch), rather than Ubuntu. From the release announcement: "deepin is a Linux distribution committed to providing an elegant, user-friendly, safe and stable operating system for users all over the world. deepin 15 pays more attention to internationalization, and is enhanced with brand new mirror image acceleration (CDN acceleration). Languages supported are up to 30, thus the infinite charm of deepin can be experienced globally. Newly added languages are Malay, Bulgarian, Swedish, Croatian, Japanese, Korean, Finnish, Spanish (Latin America), Hindi (India), Ukrainian. Besides, we have reached an important cooperative relationship with Intel. We will collaboratively utilize Crosswalk Project to migrate existing web applications to deepin (Linux platform), thus enriching the diversity of applications for deepin and to improve the deepin experience." Download the installation DVD image from here: deepin-15-amd64.iso (1,851MB, MD5). Also available from OSDisc.

deepin (formerly, Deepin, Linux Deepin, Hiweed GNU/Linux) is a Debian-based distribution (it was Ubuntu-based until version 15 released in late 2015) that aims to provide an elegant, user-friendly and reliable operating system. It does not only include the best the open source world has to offer, but it has also created its own desktop environment called DDE or Deepin Desktop Environment which is based on the Qt 5 toolkit. Deepin focuses much of its attention on intuitive design. Its home-grown applications, like Deepin Software Centre, DMusic and DPlayer are tailored to the average user. Being easy to install and use, deepin can be a good Windows alternative for office and home use.

Melody Zou has announced the availability of an updated release of deepin, a Debian-based, desktop Linux distribution with a custom desktop environment and several in-house applications: "deepin 15.3 brings a highly customizable dock, while the wallpaper setting is more visual and convenient. Meanwhile, this version includes Deepin File Manager, Deepin Image Viewer, new Deepin Terminal and other Deepin applications to enrich the whole ecosystem." Besides feature enhancements, this version also fixes a large number of bugs: "Fixed the issue in display module where double-screen switching is occasionally invalid; fixed the issue in display module where contents on desktop are misplaced after switching double screens several times; fixed the issue in network module where new users are required to identify when logging in to use the network; fixed the issue in sound module where sound play cannot be manually switched to an external HDMI device...." Read the rest of the release announcement for more information and screenshots. Download: deepin-15.3-amd64.iso (2,287MB, MD5, pkglist).

Melody Zou has announced the release of deepin 15.2, an updated version of the desktop-oriented, Debian-based distribution with a custom desktop environment called Deepin. This version delivers a new screen for launching applications and many updated packages, including the latest LTS Linux kernel: "deepin 15.2 adopts a new Launcher interface and intuitive search, adds safe boot support, and uses the 4.4 LTS kernel optimized and compiled by the deepin kernel team. System performance and resource allocation have been significantly improved. Also, this version comes pre-installed with the more stable CrossOver 15. The Launcher interface is more friendly and the search box is placed at the top of Launcher. The classification of applications is simple and clear and users can customize icon locations using the free sorting mode. Remote Assistance is an independent application now, deeply integrated with the distribution. No matter where you are, your friends or engineers can connect to your PC and to solve the problems you've encountered." Here is the full release announcement with screenshots. Download the installation DVD image from here: deepin-15.2-amd64.iso (2,235MB, MD5).

The deepin project has published an updated release of the distribution's 15 series. The new version, deepin 15.1, includes several updates and fixes. The latest version also features a new application, Deepin Cloud Print. "deepin 15.1 is a correction emphasizing bug fixing from users' feedback, optimizing the system and expanding the application repository. It is worth mentioning that a new member has joined the deepin application family - deepin Cloud Print. Based on questions and advice users submitted through deepin feedback, we fixed and optimized system modules: optimized Dock display interface when mounting mobile device; fixed an issue with the Dock whose hidden status may be incorrect; fixed an issue with the Dock where the system tray cannot be displayed...." A full list of changes and several screen shots are featured in the project's release announcement. Download (MD5) the installation DVD image from SourceForge: deepin-15.1-amd64.iso (1,964MB, pkglist).

The deepin development team has announced the release of deepin 15 beta, the latest development build of the Debian-based distribution featuring a custom desktop environment and layout: "Thanks to the warm feedback from alpha 2 users, the function completeness and stability have been significantly improved in deepin 15 beta. Completely new design style. For this version, a white system theme and winning works of Deepin wallpaper contest 2015 have been used to present you a fresh and elegant feeling. System sound and animation effects and have been thoroughly perfected. Notification, wake up and similar operations will all come with fine sound and animation effects. From now on, every operation you perform will no longer be dull. Meanwhile, we have further refined system details, e.g., finely adjusted the render effects of fonts, added a multitasking view button to the dock. All to make you use the desktop comfortably and smoothly in work and entertainment." Continue to the release announcement which includes numerous screenshots of the deepin desktop. Download the installation DVD image from SourceForge: deepin-15-beta-amd64.iso (1,884MB, MD5, pkglist).

The deepin development team has announced the availability of the second alpha build of the upcoming deepin 15, a major new version of the project's desktop Linux distribution featuring the Deepin desktop: "deepin 15 alpha 2 is thoroughly changed with a brand new system architecture. System performance and resources occupation have been significantly improved. Meanwhile, significant attention has been paid in internationalization for this system. Not only multi-language display has been improved, but also the mirror acceleration function has been added for the first time. So you can experience the infinite charm of deepin wherever you are! Thanks to the comprehensive optimization of the system internal architecture, deepin 15 alpha 2 has become lighter and cleaner. A new window manager has been adopted in this edition, while performance and compatibility has reached perfect balance." Read the rest of the release announcement for a list of new features and screenshots. Interested alpha testers can download the release from here: deepin-15-alpha2-amd64.iso (1,776MB, MD5, pkglist).

The deepin development team has announced the release of deepin 2014.3 which brings new updates to the project's Ubuntu-based desktop Linux distribution, together with a new website domain (deepin.org) and a new product name - now spelt with a lower-case "d". From the release announcement: "deepin 2014.3 is the revised version. This version is the achievement after we comprehensively fixed bugs in the system and applications in the last version and optimized the performance of the last version. Meanwhile, the system features and UI interfaces have been adjusted slightly. In terms of the languages the system supports, deepin 2014.3 has increasingly supported 23 languages. In addition, deepin has relatively complete community documents and nearly 70 mirror sites worldwide, allowing users all around the world to be able to experience the infinite charm of the deepin system. This time, we focused on fixing and optimizing Dock and Control Center to make the experience and stability of deepin 2014.3 greatly improved." Download the installation DVD image from here: deepin_2014.3_amd64.iso (1,920MB, MD5, pkglist).

Deepin 2014.2, the second update of the Ubuntu-based community distribution with a custom, HTML 5-based desktop environment, has been released. The "live mode" functionality has been removed in this version, so it is no longer possible to test the distribution before committing to a hard disk installation. Other features of the release include: "Enabled brand-new Deepin themes, making the system interface more beautiful; newly added the feature of drag and drop re-ordering to the residing icons in Dock; newly added four kinds of re-ordering modes in the Launcher (by name, by category, by installation time and by frequency of use); newly added the functions of Icon, Cursor and Fonts setting in the Personalization Setting module; improved multi-screen display function; strengthened the network function and added the function of state memory; simplified the operation of choosing time zone in Control Center and newly added the function of daylight saving time...." Here is the full release announcement with screenshots. Download: deepin_2014.2_amd64.iso (1,888MB, MD5, pkglist).

Cathy Lin has announced the release of Deepin 2014.1, a bug-fix update of the Ubuntu-based community distribution with a highly customised and intuitive desktop environment: "Deepin 2014.1 released. In this version, we focus on enhancing the system stability. Meanwhile, the system performance has been optimized thoroughly and the major improvements are as follows: added the anti-freeze function of Dock in background; fixed the system freezing bugs caused by Dock; for desktop, we have resolved the problems of right-click menu and multiple screen display; the response speed of the right-click menu has been improved significantly and its memory has been reduced by 90%; multi-screen display function has solved the problems of novice guide malposition and wrong display of wallpapers; a soft control function of screen brightness has been added in Control Center's display module...." Read the rest of the release announcement for further details and screenshots. Download: deepin_2014.1_amd64.iso (1,495MB, MD5, pkglist).

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